History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 15

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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surveyed, and certificates issued to the holders. These certificates were conclusive between Connecticut claimants, but did not conclude a Pennsylvania claimant.

Of the compromise act of 1799, in the case of Barney vs. Sutton, 2 Watts, 36 Scott, President Judge of the Luzerne Common Pleas Court, sums up the whole thus : " At last the Legislature adopted the ex- pedient of acting as mediators between the Connecticut and the Penn- sylvania claimants, for the purpose of putting a final end to the contro- versy. The act was strictly the act of mediation. It proposed terms of settlement and compromise to the parties, and the controversy was finally happily settled. The judge then gives the following as per- tinent history of the long-drawn-out contention :

At the commencement of the Revolution, settlements had been effected in most, if not all, of the seventeen townships, and, in many of them, extensive improvements had been made. The settlers were a hardy, intelligent, brave, and patriotic people. Dur- ing the revolutionary struggle, neither the sufferings and privations which they en- dured, nor the menace of the executive authority of Pennsylvania, could drive them from their settlements; nor could the offers of British gold tempt them to abandon their country, or the common cause of liberty and independence in which they were engaged. They had become so numerous that they furnished nearly one thousand men for the regular service. They did atill more. They sustained, single handed, for more than three years, a frontier war, during the most gloomy period of the Revolution, and successfully repelled an enemy, " whose known mode of warfare spared neither age, nor sex, nor condition." On the 3d of July, 1778, they wereattacked by a numer- ous body of Indians, British, and Tories, and in one disastrous battle, nearly the whole settlement were reduced to widowhood and orphanage.

The feeble remains which escaped soon mustered, and returned to the settlement, and, until the close of the war, presented a barrier to the incursions of the savage foe.

This is a mere skeleton of the early history of this settlement. It would require a volume to fill it up. But enough has been noticed to satisfy any one, not blinded by interest or prejudice, of the equitable claims of these people. They came into posses- sion under color of title-such a title, too, as they honestly believed to be good, and in which they were induced to confide, by a government claiming jurisdiction over the territory. Was this circumstance nothing as a ground of equity ? Were the improve- ments and possession of the country nothing ? Were the sacrifices, and sufferings, and privations of the people, in defense of the country, and in the common cause, nothing ? Are such a people to be considered outlaws ? To this last question, I adopt the answer of the late chief justice, in the case of Satterlee vs. Matthewson : "God forbid ! they are not to be ao considered." Considerations like these have uniformly been regarded as sufficient in Pennsylvania to ground an equity. The principle has been carried further. Our statute books, and the decisions of our courts, furnish numerous instances where like consideratiors have been deemed sufficient grounds of equity in favor of those who had taken possession of lands, without title or color of title, and in favor of those who had taken possession in violation of the positive enact- ments of the Legislature; as in the case of lands not purchased of the Indians.

" Half-Share Men."-An act of the Assembly, March 11, 1800, re- pealed the general act for the limitation of actions to be brought under the act of March 26, 1785, within the seventeen townships, or in any case where title is claimed under the Susquehanna Company.

April 6, 1802, an act was passed by the Legislature which the court in the case of Irish vs. Scovel, 6 Binn, 57, fully explains, when it says : "the manifest object of this act appears to have been to continue the kindness which had been extended to the seventeen townships, but to cut up by the roots the title of Connecticut in all other parts."

And it thoroughly accomplished its purpose, but was attended with some unfortunate circumstances, but of these it is necessary here to notice only such as were enacted within Bradford county. The " half-

Rev. Sam 8, Colr M. D.

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share " men were often called the "Wild Yankees"-they realized that they were being ruthlessly outlawed, and Col. John Franklin, the Satterlees, Kingsburys and Spaldings were their friends, and in some respects their leaders. Acts of bloody violence were committed. Col. Arthur Erwin, an extensive land owner in the north part of the county, was shot dead while sitting in the door of Mr. McDuffie, of Athens ; the Rev. Thomas Smiley, at that time living eight or ten miles up the Towanda creek, while acting as an assistant agent under the "Intrusion Law," was tarred and feathered. Col. Abraham Horn had been appointed by the Pennsylvania landholders to put the "Intrusion Law " in force, and at once entered upon his duties. In June, 1801, he came into Bradford county, but, apprehending danger from the violent oppression of the people, he stopped at Asylum. Rev. Thomas Smiley had written to the agent that nearly all the forty settlers on Towanda creek would renounce their Connecticut titles, and purchase of the Pennsylvania claimants. A conference was held at Asylum. Mr. Smiley was commissioned a deputy agent, and furnished with the nec- cessary papers. July 7th, he obtained the signature of nearly forty to their relinquishments and submissions, and started for Asylum. A meeting was held, and the " Wild Yankees" determined that the busi- ness must be stopped. About twenty men from Sugar Creek, Ulster and Sheshequin, armed and disguised, started in pursuit. Mr. Smiley, hearing the arrangements of the conspirators, went down to Joshua Wythe's, near Monroeton, where he remained until dark, and then stopped for the night at Jacob Granteer's. The parties followed him and broke into the room where he was sleeping, captured his papers, burned them, and led him down to the creek, tarred and feathered him, and the leader giving him a kick told him to "go." John Murphy, David Campbell, Jacob Irvine, Ebenezer Shaw, Stephen Ballard and Benjamin Griffin were presented to the grand jury for this, but no bill was found.

Gov. Hoyt concludes with the following propositions :

1. In the form of Law, Connecticut, with a title regular on its face, failed justly.

2. In the form of Equity the Connecticut settlers, without other title than the possessio pedis, prevailed rightly.

This is the condensed story of the "Seventeen Townships, " the " Connecticut Claims "-the " First and Second Pennamite and Yan- kee Wars," as well as the story of the settleinent of northern Pennsyl- vania and the unequaled bravery, patience and endurance of our distin- guished forefathers. A chapter of deep interest to every student of . American history ; the central individual figure in it all was Col. John Franklin, the representative of Connecticut. To this day men, in considering it, are liable to confuse the two and only questions in it all into one question, and thereby bias their own otherwise better judgments. These questions should have been kept distinct, namely right of jurisdiction and the right of soil, and in this light would, have been easily settled. The actual settlers cared nothing as to the jurisdiction over them, and it must be conceded that on both sides pur- chasers bought good titles, that is, the individual acted in good faith, and the authorities on each side had good color of authority to dispose

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of the soil. In this view the judicial question for the courts should have been simply one of priority of claim, regardless of which faction either party belonged to or claimed under. When the Trenton decree was promulgated, it was the plain duty of Pennsylvania to have promptly accepted that as a settlement of all questions in her favor of jurisdiction,and at once recognized every title of the Connecticut claim- ants, and this would have incorporated the Colony as good and loyal citizens of the State, and have ended forever all dispute or bad blood. The State erred in making itself a partisan in the question of soil, a mere agent or attorney, intent upon land-grabbing in behalf of its clients, regardless of all questions of equity or even justice, and it pro- ceeded in a long course of evictions that were not only unjust, but utterly cruel. As seen above, in the end the State had to become mediator ; the very thing it should have done at first. It did this only when Connecticut ceased to trifle with the question, and set about in earnest a bold defense of its long-suffering people. After the thing had ran on a hundred years or more, and the people had suffered an unbroken stream of wrongs to which they had been led by the prom- ises of Connecticut, then it roused up and boldly said to its colonists, if you can get justice in no other way than by forming yourselves into a new and separate State, we will back you even to the bloody issue. This action of Connecticut brought here Ethan Allen and his followers, flushed with his successes in Vermont, and it is estimated that by the time of the mediatory act of Pennsylvania, 1799, was passed, there were ten thousand people in the valley, ready to carve out with their sharp swords the new State, that these men, made desperate, could have de- fended against the world. Many of the ablest and purest men of the State were now taking sides with the Connecticut claimants,and happily the authorities saw the gathering cloud and promptly, though now impossible of fairness and equity, took the only step it could take, and the end came.

CHAPTER IX.

GLEANINGS OF THE EARLY TIMES.

WHAT THE FIRST NEWSPAPER TELLS US-THE BRADFORD GAZETTE -. MUCH REAL EARLY HISTORY GLEANED-SPARSE IN EDITORIALS, BUT RICH IN HISTORY-EVERY ITEM INTERESTING-ETC.

T HE Bradford Gazette was the first paper published in the county, by Thomas Simpson. Vol. 1, No. 5 of that paper, is the first whole paper that I found. Small parts of the other preceding num- bers were in the bound volume, but so little remained that nothing could be gleaned from them. I examined the old volume through the kindness of Dallas J. Sweet, of Towanda. It is dated Towanda,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Tuesday, September 7, 1813. A four-column folio, and rates $2 a year. In the " proposal" of publication, the proprietor, among other things, says :

The necessity of a weekly publication in this county being sufficiently obvious, it is presumed there will be no impediment to the general patronage of this paper, when the public are fully assured that its object is not discussion and domestic animosity, but the acceleration of local business; diffusion of national intelligence, and all those extra matters which are generally comprehended within the limited view of a newspa- per-the amusement and benefit of our subscribers. Situated as the United States are, it is impossible that any man who interests himself in the affairs of his country should be impartial between its two great political sects. He who pretends to be impartial is no more than a pretender. The Editor is a republican, and his paper will bear that charac ter in the editorial department, but its pages will be free at all times to well-written communications of whatever political nature.

It may be well enough to exclaim that when the editor announces that he is "a republican," that he means he was what we now call a Jeffersonian Democrat. The two parties then were Republican and Federalist, then came Democrat and Whig, and now Democrat and Republican is the order of designation. These are the changes in name of the two leading parties of the country. A prominent notice in the Gazette is that "all letters to the editor must be post-paid to be attended to." The first page is made up of three columns of "foreign news," dated May 6. From May to September would be a long time to wait for news now-a-days. Advertisements on this page are two by the editor-" All Kinds of Printing," and "Blanks of Every Description." Andrew Irwin offers for sale a quantity of "Soal and Upper Leather," and also " Fresh Goods," by Spalding & Comp; and all indebted to Harry Spalding & Co., to pay up or be sued ; the last one is by William Means, "Oats Wanted." The second page is made of extracts, and among others is a long biography of Capt. James Lawrence. This was, it seems, cut in two and marked "to be continued." The third page contains other long extracts, but in the way of original matter, under date of Tuesday, August 31, gives the proceedings of a "Republican meeting held at the house of Mr. Means, in Towanda, August 18, 1813 ; Guy Wells, Esq., was appointed chairman, and A. C. Stuart, Esq., secretary. Resolved, that delegates from each township, of that part of Bradford county which formerly belonged to Luzerne, be appointed to meet the delegates from Luzerne and Susquehanna counties, at the house of Cyrus Avery, at Tunkhannock, on Monday, the 20th of September: Jesse Ross, of Rush ; Guy Wells, of Wyalusing; George Scott, of Wysox; Burr Ridgway, of Towanda ; Seeley Crofut, of Canton, and Chester Gridley, of Orwell, were appointed. Two from each township in the county were appointed as a "Committee of Vigilance and Corres- pondence," as follows: Chester Gridley, Lemuel Streeter, for Orwell; Jesse Ross, Jesse Hancock, for Rush; Guy Wells, Jonathan Terry, for Wyalusing ; George Scott, Moses Coolbaugh, for Wysox ; Burr Ridgway, William Means, for Towanda; Seeley Crofut, Noah Wilson, for Canton ; Samuel Satterlee, Ephraim Gerould, for Smith- field ; John McKean, Howard Spalding, for Burlington; Henry Wells, John Saltmarsh, for Athens; John Cummings, Samuel Edsell, for Wells; William Furman, David Haswell, for Columbia; James

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Harkness, Isaac Cooley, for Murraysfield; and Samuel Gore and Abraham Menier, for Ulster. A vote was then taken, and Burr Ridgway nominated for county commissioner, and Jonathan Stevens, Henry Welles and Moses Coolbaugh, for auditors. In another column is a "Proclamation " of Abner C. Rockwell, sheriff, dated September 2, 1813, giving notice of the approaching election, and the places of voting, as the law required; for two members from Lycoming county, and that part of Bradford formerly belonging to Lycoming, in the Legis- lature ; one for county commissioner; three for auditor; two to represent Luzerne, Susquehanna, and that part of Bradford formerly belonging to Luzerne, in the Legislature, and one inspector of elections in each township. The places of voting were : At the house of Erastus Lomis, Athens, for Athens and Ulster; Smithfield, at the house of John Cummings ; Burlington, at the house of Mary Goddard ; Canton, at the house of Henry Mercur; Towanda, at the house of William Means ; Wysox, at the house of William Keeler; Orwell, at the house formerly occupied by Capt. Josiah Grant ; Wyalusing, at the house of Justus Gaylord. Then follows the professional card of Dr. James Grant. The fourth page opens with the spring and fall poets' corner, giving two short effusions, one on " To-morrow," and the other, " The Sabbath ;" some correspondence between the British General, Proctor, and Gen. Harrison, referring to the then recent battle of "Raisin," and it is stated "before Gen. Harrison knew of the massacre of the Americans." Then come the other advertise- ments of this issue: " A Set of Blacksmith Tools," by William Keeler, Towanda; "Tincher Wanted," Samuel C. Hall, Cecil, Md. ; " Notice," by Obadiah Gore and Simon Kinney, adms. of the estate of Isaac Cash, late of Ulster township; "Notice," by Charles F. Welles, prothonatory ; "To debtors and creditors," by Obadiah Gore and Simon Kinney, administrators; "Wanted at this office, an appren- tice," by the editor; "Wanted-good butter," by William Means ; "For sale a new and Fashionable Riding Chair," by Ebenezer R. Gregory ; " Wanted," at the printing office, "twenty or thirty weight of tallow ;" "Boot & Shoemaking, wanted a good man to open a shop in Towanda," by several leading citizens; "Tailor," Jesse Woodruff. Then follows a long "Notice to Millers," by Oliver Evans, in which he notifies all using his mill patents to come forward and pay for the said use.

This is a bird's eye view of the Bradford Gazette, as well as a similar sight of the county in business and politics. True, it is only one side (" Republican ") of politics, and no doubt in looking at the next succeeding numbers there will be found accounts of the meetings and nominations of the other side-the Federalists. Men were quite as much interested in politics then as now.

The next issue of the Gazette has on the first page three columns more of the biography of Capt. James Lawrence, and at the foot is this: "Concluded next week."" Page 2 is filled with foreign news, of date, June 10; clippings from foreign papers. This issue gives the proceedings of a county convention of the "Federal Republicans." It was a delegate convention, and met at the house of Harry Spalding,

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in Towanda township, Wednesday, September 8, 1813, "to take into consideration and agree on the most suitable characters for Commis- sioner and Auditors to be supported at the next General Election." Ralph Martain, chairman, and J. F. Satterlee, secretary. "It was voted that .Col. Joseph Kingsbury be a suitable candidate for County Commissioner." And Col. Aden Stephens, Russell Fowler and Perly Coburn were nominated for auditors. A corresponding committee of two from each township was selected, as follows : Dr. Thomas Huston and John F. Satterlee, Athens; Samuel Campbell and John Harkness, Smithfield ; Ezra Long and Levi Soper, Burlington ; Jared Holcomb, Esq., and George Kinney, Ulster; Abner C. Rockwell and Noah Spalding, Towanda; Hugh Holcomb and William P. Spalding, Canton ; William F. Dinniger and William Allen, Wysox ; Ebenezer Lewis and Daniel Brown, Wyalusing; Josiah Bosworth and Col. Theron Darling, Orwell ; and Benajah Bostwick and William Bradshaw, Rush. In this paper appears the rather flowing advertisement of the "Boot & Shoe Factory " of Henry Harris. This was the quick response to the call for a shoemaker in the preceding week's paper. It paid in those days to advertise, it seems. But on reading the "ad.," it is discovered that the bold Henry Harris is not of Towanda, or Bradford county, but of Williamsport; and he gives elaborate directions how to send your measure for footgear. As it may sound a little curious to this generation, his instructions are given: "Take a strip of paper one inch broad, the length you want the boot-then measure round the calf, over pantaloons and stocking-then round the heel and instep, the thickness of the foot round the instep- then the exact length of the foot; cutting a notch for calf, heel and instep and length of the foot-also, mark each notch and take the exact size," etc. In the next column is a notice of a meeting of "Democratic Republicans" to nominate a candidate for auditor in the stead of Henry Welles, who had been placed on the ticket for member of the assembly. The old style f makes a person inclined to read the paper as though he were tongue-tied every time it occurs. This issue contains the first announcement of a marriage-Thomas Overton, Esq., of Sheshequin, to Miss Mary Tracy, "of this town." Ceremony by Burr Ridgway. Another notice is by Theron Darling, lieutenant colonel, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment, P. M., to the officers and men to meet at the house of Joshua Moger, "Wysoc." This is followed by a notice by Richard Benjamin, executor of the estate of Amos Bennett. Then comes a list of letters, Ebenezer B. Gregory, postmaster, Towanda, as follows: County of Bradford-Isaac Allen, Absalom Carr; Towanda -Ethan Baldwin, Samuel Cranmer, Isaac Ellsworth, William French, Sally Kent, Eliphalet Mason, Esq., Silas Scovel ; Canton -- David Way; Orwell -- Nancy Darling; Wysox-Jacob Strickland. It will be under- stood from this notice that the mail for the entire county came to Towanda. When we reflect on the number of postoffices now in the county, the change will be strongly marked indeed.

The next issue of the Gazette is dated September 21, and contains the conclusion of Lawrence's biography. On the third page is a notice of the " Celebration of the National Fast," by "the friends of American

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Liberty and Independence," in the township of Burlington, September 9, "in the meeting-house contiguous to Nathaniel Ballard's." The account says : " An appropriate and patriotic discourse was delivered by Rev. John M'Keen." In this paper is a notice by Eli Parsons, "Adm'r of William Johnson's estate." Then follows a notice dated, "Jail at Towanda," by Constant Williams, stating that he has applied to the judges "for the benefit of the laws for the relief of insolvent debtors." The poor man was imprisoned for debt. Abner C. Rockwell, sheriff, offers "$30 reward " for John Shrader, Jr., " of dark complexion, black curly hair, dark eyes, speaks broad English, and the German tongue, about six feet high, who made his escape from the jail of Bradford on the evening of the 13th inst." He does not inform us what the man was in jail for. The next issue has a notice of a farm for sale, by Orr Scovell. It is described as lying on Towanda creek, 190 acres, within a mile and a half of Towanda. Another notice, by the same man, of a "paire of 2 yr. old steers, that broke into the inclosure of the subscri- ber." The next is by Joel Stevens and Elisha Rich, administrators of Gustavus Ellsworth, deceased. The issue, dated October 5, has a notice by A. V. Mathews, "Wanted, a good steady laborer." Ebenezer Gregory "forbids any person cutting timber " on the land in Towanda, he had contracted for with the town proprietors, John Shepherd and Benjamin Durrance ; Lieut. Col. Samuel Satterlee gives notice to the officers and men of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, that the battalion commanded by Samuel Mckean will meet at the house of William Furman, in Columbia township, and the second battalion, commanded by Maj. Abraham Snell, are to meet at the house of Abner Murry, Athens; Justus Gaylord and William Myer, commissioners, give to all persons who have subscribed toward the public buildings of the county notice to pay up, and that they will receive proposals for 300 perches of stone for building the jail. The paper of October 12th, publishes on the first page the "official account of the capture of the British fleet on Lake Erie, by the American fleet under Commodore Perry." This celebrated naval battle was fought September 10, 1813. In the Gazette of October 12, appears an advertisement by Commis- sioners Justus Gaylord and William Myer, calling for contracts for materials to be used in constructing "a court house and gaol, as follows: 6,763 ft. square timber; 7,184 ft. scantling; 8,860 ft. white oak plank; 200 ft. cherry plank; 500, clear white pine ; 5,000 ft. 1} inch white pine boards; 50.000 ft. boards for ceiling ; 4,500 ft. 12 yellow pine flooring ; 6,500, siding; 13,000 shingles ; 10,000 brick, and 200 bu. lime." And again, they notify all who have subscribed toward public buildings to pay up. Then comes David Pratt with "Look Here," notifying those who owe him for "cloth- dressing " to promptly settle for the same. The next issue, October 17, contains the official returns of the election in the county. Burr Ridgway, Democrat, was elected over J. Kingsbury, Federal, county commissioner, by a majority of 108, in a total vote in the county of 622 ; 365 for Ridgway, and 257 for his opponent. The lowest majority given the Democratic candidates for auditors over their Federal opponents was 105. The vote in the respective townships between

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the two parties was as follows-the first number being Democratic: Athens, 61-73 ; Cliffsburg, 73-10 ; Burlington, 49-8; Canton, 35- 24 ; Towanda, 47-37; Wysox, 34-68; Orwell, 27-27; Wyalusing, 39-40. The three auditors elected were Clement Paine, Moses Cool- baugh and Jonathan Stevens. The elected assemblymen for the Lycom- ing section of Bradford county were John Forster and Henry Welles, Democrats ; to the assembly from the Luzerne section of Bradford county, Jabez Hyde, Jr., and Joseph Pruner, Democrats. As a foot note to the election returns, the editor says:

It is presumed it will not be amiss to say there has not been a single word of slander or abuse on either side in the county.

The importance attaching to this quoted paragraph comes from three sources : First, it indicates a decent circumspection on the part of the respective candidates and voters ; second, the only paper in the county was Democratic, and had no organ to reply to it; third, it was the first line or paragraph of editorial that ever appeared in the paper, either general or local. The style of papers in that day differed much from those of the present. Then the first page had a few "ads.," and was all "foreign news," about a month old, the remainder of the paper being clippings from other papers-long articles on religious, war or political subjects. The issue now under consideration has a "Com- municated" of over two columns,-a circular letter of the Chemung Baptist Association.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 15

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340